"SUMMERS: Love this. So what did they find? CARLSON: They were looking for brain signals that show the babies were predicting the next note. In adults, our brains predict both the rhythm and the melody of the next note. But they found that the babies tracked the rhythm, even though it could get pretty complicated. BARBER: But the babies didn't track the melody."
"REGINA BARBER, BYLINE: Hey. RACHEL CARLSON, BYLINE: Hi. SUMMERS: So I know that y'all have brought us three science stories that caught your attention this week. Tell us what they are. CARLSON: When babies recognize musical rhythm versus melody. BARBER: A finding that could tell us more about reptiles' weird feeding habits. CARLSON: And how sleeping on a problem could actually help you solve it."
Scientists played piano music by Bach to sleepy newborns while recording EEGs to test prediction of rhythm and melody. Brain signals showed infants predicted upcoming rhythmic patterns, even complex rhythms, but did not predict melodic changes. Adults predict both rhythm and melody, indicating a developmental difference. Findings suggest an innate sensitivity to temporal structure that may support early social and motor coordination, while melodic prediction likely requires further neural maturation or experience. Distinguishing rhythm and melody processing helps clarify early auditory development and guides future research on music perception in infancy.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]